Snowdust
by Azaria97
Summary: In the small village of Wall, Anna has to travel across a forbidden wall to another world to bring back an impossible birthday present to prove her undying love. Little did she know she'd find something far more precious... and shiny. In this story, Anna will find adventure, discover her past, and find the meaning of true love. Stardust AU Tristan!Anna, Fallen Star!Elsa


A/N: Ok so I have made the horrible decision to participate in NaNoWriMo, and this is my contribution! Now this is a Stardust AU and it would probably be easier to understand the world building if you've seen the movie before, but if not, I promise to do my best to explain it. And if I don't make something clear enough please tell me or ask questions! Anyway, here's the first chapter. Enjoy!

"I am charged with guarding a portal _to another world_ , and you just waltz right up here and have the audacity to ask me to just _let you through_?!" Weselton shouted. The tiny, old man was nearly shaking in rage as he stared incredulously at Adgar.

"Yes." The young man replied calmly. When Weselton still refused to move aside, he sighed and continued. "Alright, Weaseltown," the old man frowned at the rude nickname. It wasn't his fault he was born with shifty eyes. "Let's be honest." He took a deep breath. "It's a field. A bloody, empty field. Look! Do you see another world out there?" He pointed to the vacant area. "No, you see a field. Do you see anything odd or even remotely out of this world? No. And do you know why? Because it's a field!"

Sighing in exasperation, the old man replied, "This wall has been here for hundreds of years. And in every second of those hundreds of years this gap has been guarded by generations of my family. If you say one more word-" Adgar lifted a hand to interrupt but Weselton just spoke louder. "I'll have you tried in front of the whole village!"

He was wheezing now. _I'm getting too old for this_ he thought in the seconds of silence following his threat.

"Well… That sounds rather final." Sullenly, he added, "I'd better just go home then…"

Puffing out his chest in pride at winning, Weselton strode forward, turned the young man away from the gap in the wall, and pushed him toward the village. "Wonderful! Good choice, my boy. Goodnight, then, Adgar. Say hello to your mother for me." And the second the old man turned away to return to his lonely stool, Adgar quickly turned around and sprinted toward the opening.

Caught by surprise, Weselton couldn't do anything but watch the boy leap grandly over the loose stones in the wall and race toward the tree line. He yelled at the foolish boy to stop and to come back, but soon enough, he was out of sight in the trees. Sighing, he returned to his stool, and grumbled to himself about stupid, headstrong boys. He would need to work harder if something happened like this again. He needed practice. Now where was his quarter-staff…

 _See! There's nothing here! It's just trees, and rocks, and grass! I can finally prove it to people that there. is. nothing. here!_ He began walking up a steep hill as his inner thoughts reveled at proving the elders of the village to be idiots. His train of thought completely stopped as he crested the hill.

Down below in the valley sat a town, full of oddly shaped roofs and rainbow lights swirling in a hurricane of colors. And even from the far away distance, he heard people moving and chatting amongst each other, bells and whistles, and the groaning of wood from what looked to be wagons packed with _stuff._

Immediately, he forgot about his original goal, and began stumbling down the hill. The closer he got, the louder and brighter the town became. And the more he could _smell_.

The smell did match the oddness of the town, but not in a good way. He could smell the stench of animals, refuse, rotten food, and many other scents he had no chance of naming. The horrible smell almost made him turn back to go home, but he couldn't tear himself away.

Above the entrance to the town was a wooden sign reading _Town of Wall_ and under that a smaller sign stapled to the bigger one reading _Market Week._

As he walked through the gate, he finally saw all the people and the things they carried. No two human, or humanoid creature for that matter, were alike. And the items those people were selling were as varied as their owners.

There were cat-sized elephants in cages, eyeballs moving in a jar, and dancing wooden puppets that seemed to be moving by themselves. There were so many strange sights he couldn't even try to take them all in.

He tried anyway. He wandering in front of a sales table and he locked eyes with a beautiful girl sitting in the back of a yellow, covered wagon. She smiled brightly at him and he sheepishly returned it. He was about to call out to her to strike up a conversation when a mop of wild, greasy hair blocked his view of the girl.

"I don't deal with time wasters," a gravelly voice announced. When Adgar focused on the face in front of him, he immediately wished he hadn't. Dull, black eyes sat amidst a wrinkled face and a crooked nose. And yellow, decaying teeth met in what looked like a grin or a grimace, he couldn't quite tell. All of it combined made for one of the ugliest faces he had ever seen.

"Girl! Get off your lazy bum over here and watch the table!" The woman shouted over her shoulder. "I'm going to the tavern for a drink." And with one last glare at Adgar, she hobbled off into the crowded streets and disappeared.

The girl rose from her seat on the back of the wagon and sauntered to the opposite side of the table, dragging a tinkling, silver string behind her.

"So… See anything you like?" She raised a cocky eyebrow at his open mouthed stare.

"Uh… definitely…" She giggled at his dazed look. At the sound of it, he awkwardly shook himself from his trance and stammered out, "I mean- well, what I meant was-" He looked down quickly and reached for the closest thing his hands could reach. A small bucket with an array of different colored flowers sat in front of him. He plucked a small, blue flower from its resting place and held it up to the girl. "This one. I like this one. How much is it?"

Her eyes brightened and a mischievous smile lit up her face as she answered him. "They might be the color of your hair. Or, it might be all of your memories before you were three… I can check if you like?"

He balked and hastily replaced the flower at her odd answer. He wondered for a second how it would even be possible for her to take his memories or his hair color before she spoke again.

"Anyway, you shouldn't buy the bluebells. Buy this one instead." She reached down and plucked a lone, white flower. "A Snowdrop… It'll bring you luck."

"And what, might I ask, does that one cost?"

She thought for a minute before answering, "Only one true love's kiss." She grinned and patted her cheek in invitation.

"Do you mean to tell me that you are my true love?"

"Do you mean to tell me you don't believe me?" She countered. After all of the impossible things he had seen tonight, he couldn't think of what to say to that.

She leaned over the table and gently put the flower in his front, jacket pocket. And again she patted her cheek for her promised kiss. Seeing no reason _not_ to kiss her, he leaned forward to do just that.

Just before his lips met with her cheek, she twisted her head so their lips met in a chaste kiss that quickly became anything but chaste. After a few precious seconds, she pulled back and bit her lip.

Looking around, she asked, "Is she gone?" And when neither of them could spot the familiar mop of hair she grabbed his hand and tugged him around the table and began dragging him toward the wagon.

He followed her lead eagerly until a tinkling sound distracted him and he looked around for the source. What he found was a long, thin, shiny string. When followed the string with his eyes, he saw that one end was tied around the ankle of the girl, and the other end attached to the wagon.

Wanting to find out why he had stopped moving, the girl turned around and noticed what he was looking at. When he looked back up at her in question, she sighed and said, "I'm a princess who was tricked into being a witch's slave. Can you free me?"

He bent down and picked up part of the strand. He pulled out his pocket knife and looped it so that when he cut it, he would be able to keep a piece as a memento. After a quick flick of his wrist, he looked up at her in triumph but immediately looked down again when the two pieces of string still attached to something started moving in his hand. He watched in fascination as both ends met and sealed themselves together again. It was like he hadn't cut them at all. It was like… Magic.

When he looked back up at her, she was looking down at him and her shackle and chuckled sadly. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. Its an enchanted chain and the only way I'll have my freedom back is if she dies. And unfortunately, witches have very, very, _very_ long lives."

She reached for his hand again and resumed climbing in the wagon before another thought entered her head. She turned around to voice it to him.

"You must also promise that you will never again cross the wall and try to find me again. If you do my master will find and kill you."

He wanted to argue that he wasn't scared of the ugly woman, but at the serious look in her eyes he decided otherwise. Sadly, he promised that he never would. Taking a deep breath, she gathered herself up and kissed him again. She grabbed his hand and slowly led him inside the wagon.

"I don't even know your name. My name is Adgar by the way."

She studied him for a moment before replying. "Mine's Idunn. It's nice to meet you Adgar."

He smiled brightly at her before shuffling the rest of the way in the wagon. Before she shut the door behind him, she took one last suspicious glance around the market area just to make sure that her "master" truly had left for good. Satisfied that they were safe, even for just a few hours, she swung the heavy door shut and returned to her waiting true love.

~Nine Months Later~

Every night since he had crossed the wall had been torture for Adgar. He had wrestled between his desire to find Idunn again and his promise to her that he would never cross the wall again.

But tonight was different. His desire to see her again had won out against his fear for his life. He was going to go over the wall and find her no matter what.

It was mid-winter, and the snow was falling heavily. He'd have to bundle up and pack well because who knew how long it would take to find her again. As he ran around the house snatching clothes and other necessities for a long trip, he reflected on how his life had changed the last few months.

When he had returned to town the next morning, the world felt bigger and that unsettled him. For the first week, he sat alone in his house. The silence was broken when his group of friends visited him demanding to know whether there was a magical fantasy kingdom over the wall or not. The joking and laughter from the boys quickly ended when Adgar refused to answer them and instead insisted they leave. After that, his friendships with the boys turned to acquaintances, and then eventually nothing.

Also soon after he came home, he broke of his courtship with one of the town ladies. He knew that after Idunn, there was no way he could treat a wife the way she deserved, so he decided not to have one at all. Which was fine with him, he decided while rubbing a red slap mark on his cheek. Wives were too violent anyway.

He had successfully distanced himself from the town and everyone in it. He was now as strange to other people as Weselton used to be to him. Speaking of the old man, Adgar had befriended him and spent more time visiting with him at the wall than he did socializing in town, which was fine with him.

But back to present activity. Adgar was currently wrapping a wool scarf around his face and neck when he heard a knock at the door. Curious as to who would be visit at this time of night and weather, he walked over to the door and opened it.

Standing outside was a shivering Weselton. Surprised to see his friend, Adgar greeted him with a smile, missing the grim look the old man gave him.

"Duke! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"This was left at the wall for you." He replied sadly, lifting a basket full of… something in it. He handed it to a confused Adgar and continued. "It says in the note her name is Anna." Confused he looked harder into the basket.

There in the midst of a hoard of blankets lay a small, pink face with a tuft of bright red hair. It was a baby! He looked back up at a sympathetic Weselton and cried, "But I don't know how to take care of a baby!"

"For right now, warm up some goat milk and give it to her. And after she's finished eating, put her over your shoulder and burp her a bit, that should do it, yes. I'll be back in the morning to check on you both and teach you what you need to know. Don't worry; you'll be fine I promise. Now I must be going. Can't leave the gap alone for too long." And with that he turned and shambled away back into the cold.

Adgar closed the door behind him and walked over to a nearby chair. He slowly sunk into it and placed the precious basket on the floor in front of him.

Well, there went his traveling plans. He stood up and did as Weselton told him and warmed the goat milk on the stove. Luckily, he happened to have an eyedropper that would have to do until he got something better. He sighed and reached down into the basket and pulled out bright, blue eyed baby. Cradling her in one arm, he began feeding her with the eyedropper while he cooed and spoke soft calming words to the wide-eyed infant.

When she finished eating, he remembered Weselton had also told him to burp her. Carefully, he laid her tiny head on his shoulder and patted her back softly until he heard a light bubble of air escape her tiny lips.

He went to put Anna back in her makeshift bed when he noticed the letter Weselton mentioned. He picked it up and read _To Adgar_ on the front. He opened the folded page and began reading.

 _Dear Adgar,_

 _I'm so sorry to have sprung this so suddenly on you, but you have a daughter. I hate myself for having to do this, but you have to take care of her. Gerda won't let me keep her no matter how much I begged and pleaded. Anyway, her name is Anna, and please lover her enough for the both of us. I love you both very, very much._

 _Love, Idunn_

 _P.S. Adgar, please don't cross the wall to look for me. It's still not safe for you and Anna needs you now more than I do._

He slowly put the letter on the table next to him and put his head in his hands. It was almost laughable how much he loved a woman he barely knew, but he felt like weeping over her loss anyway.

Suddenly he jerked up as thought hit him. He had a _daughter_! The idea of that should have scared him, but instead it brought him peace. He had a piece of Idunn he could love and care for. And by the gods, he would smother his little girl in enough love for both him and Idunn.

"It's just you and me now Anna," He said as he picked up his baby with tears in his eyes and kissed her cheek. This was the beginning of a long journey, but everything would be alright.


End file.
